Any thoughts on the 6.5-300Whby rifle?
10-13-2016, 06:12 AM
#11
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,902
"Any thoughts," you asked...
Largely, I think it's not much more than a marketing move to bring themselves back relevant. Weatherby hasn't released a new round in many, many years; the new car smell of the Vanguard is long dissipated; they needed a new market access device. How do you do that today? Well the AR fad seems to be waning, and what came from the tactical/AR fad was a new-to-firearms consumer market which was dissatisfied by the poor accuracy and range of their mil-spec 5.56 carbines. So now what? Pushing the AR-10 seemed to work for about 6wks, but it really doesn't seem to sate the appetite of these new firearms owners, since it isn't the "best" long range rifle out there. So now what? What if we came up with a long range cartridge?!?!? The Ruger Precision has done incredibly well, for no apparent reason, even Mossbeg (bloody Mossberg, of all companies!!!) has come out with a long range "TPR" type rifle. Savage and Howa also converted to a few chassis type models, Remington dubs one model the "long range Hunter..." The 6.5creedmoor has done incredibly well, but it's short action case doesn't really lend itself to extreme range hunting. Enter the magnum length, small bore 6.5-300. The simple fact they labeled it as 6.5-300 is marketing genius in itself - limited knowledge newbies "know" the 6.5 is a great round, but they'll eat it up when they hear the 6.5-300 is even better than the 6.5creed their buddy is shooting. We've seen metric cartridge names be the death of certain rounds, but this market is a great opportunity to use weatherby convention "6.5" plays on the 6.5creed's current fame, then the "300" gives them a Us standard draw, and implies within the name it has a lot more horsepower.
Over-bore capacity and barrel life doesn't matter much to the two types who will buy this - one type is the true long range precision shooter/Hunter, who already recognizes barrels as consumables, the other type is the newbie trying to keep up with the jones's who won't shoot 1,500rnds in his lifetime, and frankly, won't notice when his accuracy starts to degrade anyway, because he's a 1-2MOA shooter who gets lucky with a few 1/2" groups from time to time to brag about. I would tend to expect 80% of the folks who buy one will not be able to honestly PROVE a difference in precision between their groups with a 6.5-300 over a plain Jane .308win (knowing I personally couldn't any more either), but what does that have to do with anything any more?
I think there's room for a new cartridge in the market, and I see nothing wrong with Weatherby's attempt to reclaim some market-share and notoriety for themselves.
It's a long ways from a game changer, but I think it will earn its spot at the table, AND I think Weatherby did well in timing to ensure it gets a foothold.
Largely, I think it's not much more than a marketing move to bring themselves back relevant. Weatherby hasn't released a new round in many, many years; the new car smell of the Vanguard is long dissipated; they needed a new market access device. How do you do that today? Well the AR fad seems to be waning, and what came from the tactical/AR fad was a new-to-firearms consumer market which was dissatisfied by the poor accuracy and range of their mil-spec 5.56 carbines. So now what? Pushing the AR-10 seemed to work for about 6wks, but it really doesn't seem to sate the appetite of these new firearms owners, since it isn't the "best" long range rifle out there. So now what? What if we came up with a long range cartridge?!?!? The Ruger Precision has done incredibly well, for no apparent reason, even Mossbeg (bloody Mossberg, of all companies!!!) has come out with a long range "TPR" type rifle. Savage and Howa also converted to a few chassis type models, Remington dubs one model the "long range Hunter..." The 6.5creedmoor has done incredibly well, but it's short action case doesn't really lend itself to extreme range hunting. Enter the magnum length, small bore 6.5-300. The simple fact they labeled it as 6.5-300 is marketing genius in itself - limited knowledge newbies "know" the 6.5 is a great round, but they'll eat it up when they hear the 6.5-300 is even better than the 6.5creed their buddy is shooting. We've seen metric cartridge names be the death of certain rounds, but this market is a great opportunity to use weatherby convention "6.5" plays on the 6.5creed's current fame, then the "300" gives them a Us standard draw, and implies within the name it has a lot more horsepower.
Over-bore capacity and barrel life doesn't matter much to the two types who will buy this - one type is the true long range precision shooter/Hunter, who already recognizes barrels as consumables, the other type is the newbie trying to keep up with the jones's who won't shoot 1,500rnds in his lifetime, and frankly, won't notice when his accuracy starts to degrade anyway, because he's a 1-2MOA shooter who gets lucky with a few 1/2" groups from time to time to brag about. I would tend to expect 80% of the folks who buy one will not be able to honestly PROVE a difference in precision between their groups with a 6.5-300 over a plain Jane .308win (knowing I personally couldn't any more either), but what does that have to do with anything any more?
I think there's room for a new cartridge in the market, and I see nothing wrong with Weatherby's attempt to reclaim some market-share and notoriety for themselves.
It's a long ways from a game changer, but I think it will earn its spot at the table, AND I think Weatherby did well in timing to ensure it gets a foothold.
10-19-2016, 06:10 PM
#13
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Eastern wv
Posts: 3,646
I have a 7mm that is a 338 lapua necked to 7mm, every 550 rounds you replace the barrel, you'll do the same with a 6.5/300 bee, awesome in performance when you need 1000 ft/lbs to 1500 yards. if you don't need it, its just an ego stroker that costs money every stroke.
RR
RR
10-19-2016, 09:55 PM
#14
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 218
RWK I hope you are not serious about that too fast statement. A bullet moving fast does more damage than a slow moving one. It makes me laugh every time I hear someone say the bullet was going so fast it didn't open up. A bullet going to slow may not open enough but not the fast one.
